can we quite simply have a cure for pain?

edit...mods, please delete...it dosen't fit this forum

[edit on 28-6-2005 by Boondock78]

A cure for pain?

All you have to do is realize that pain is a feeling, no different then warmth, or pleasure, or an itch. It is just a sensation, once you fully realize that you can control it.

Well if you wanted to stop feeling pain, you could turn off the nerves in your body that let you feel, but than you would'nt be able to feel anything else.

Epidurals, but that would get to a point where we are basically a brain in a jar like that Steve Martin movie.

Pain is a tool that lets us know when we are doing something to ourselves that we shouldn't be doing. Yes, there are other instances of pain, but there can also be no yin without a yang, or no North without a South.

As far as controlling it, might be possible, but its still there. The electricity is still jumping through your nerves, but you might be able to ignore it. Me I can't even ignore an impolite itch in public, screw manners.

This would be quite dangerous as how else do you know if something is wrong with you! It does also occur in nature. Apparently its called Congential Insensitivity to Pain.

Take into consideration a 13-month-old Pakistani boy who was referred to an orthodontist by his physician after experiencing repeated tongue bitting resulting in ulceration and loss of the tip of his tongue. He had recently been diagnosed as having CIPA which means that he could feel pressure and touch but didn't react to noxious stimuli. He showed little or no response to circumcision performed without anesthesia. At six months he developed osteomyelitis and soon after, severly burnt his finger tips by holding a radiator. At this same time he began to bite his tongue.

Source

Exactly, Khieu!

Pain is the best way the body has of letting us know something's wrong.

How else would we discern...oh...I don't know...

First signs of cancer, ulcers, infection, internal bleeding etc etc etc?

Perhaps if we were to have complete body scanning and testing every 6 months...but that's currently completely unfeasible due to cost and demographics (not to mention the simple fact that you can't scan for every condition)...then we might have a better reason to consider doing away with pain.

But so many conditions are instantaneous, that this approach wouldn't really be worth the (massive) expenditure. Aneurysms, acute surgical syndromes, broken bones...these things don't take 6 months to turn into life-threatening emergencies. What then should we do, if we've done away with pain?

Pain can be controlled however; such control usually takes the form of masking (with narcotics, meditative exercises, etc). It can be a handy technique to learn, particularly with chronic illness.

But that's dealing with pain - not eradicating pain completely.

There is this thing called morphine, its cures pain and is real.

Originally posted by Boatphone
There is this thing called morphine, its cures pain and is real.

Except it doesn't

It masks pain....

But it doesn't cure a darn thing.

Planet Morphine is only a temporary vacation. Just like Planet Vicodin, Planet Percocet....

On a serious note though, there are some pain syndromes that are only minimally helped even by morphine and the like. If only it were as simple as that

Originally posted by Boatphone
There is this thing called morphine, its cures pain and is real.

Morphine is addictive, does not cure pain, a patient can overdose on it once the tolerance to the drug sets in and more morphine than is safe to use is required.
My grand father was on morphine for the last 10 days of his life, and the pain never went away as the cancer chewed him alive. Instead he would wake up screaming for more morphine, get his dose, and nod off, only to wake up screaming within a little over an hour.

Cannabis blocks pain, its not addictive, its not possible to overdose with it,
it does not damage the nervous system like morphine.
Its only a matter of time, and research to find more effective ways of using it, to "cure" pain.

Most of the posteres are correct. The only "cure" for pain to to eliminate or fix the underlying problem.

However it gets more complex than that. Medicine is a science as well as an art. You have to factor in the "Human" factor as well. Tolerance, perception and the like all effect pain and how it is percieved by each person.

While there are a few cases here and there that are the exception, most people living with chronic pain have been failed by the medical system. Pain controll and the philosophy behind it has changed dramaticaly in even the 12 years I have been a nurse.

So with a good pain controll service, most can eliminate or sign. reduce the amount of pain they have to live with, but only if the health care team is on the ball.

You've brought up great points, Fred.

Question time

We've both worked in a clinical setting (you as a nurse, me largely as a clinical researcher and/or patient advocate); have you noticed any differences between how men and women may be treated differently for pain?

My observations have been (very generally) that narcotics are given to male patients as a first resort more often than their female counterparts; a loose example would be an ex of mine. We both suffered (at the same time, unfortunately!) herniation of the disks at L4-L5 and L5-S1; we had different physicians and where mine prescribed an anti-inflammatory then a mild narcotic (Darvocet), his went straight for Percocet.

Whilst I realise individual tolerance and thresholds for pain differ greatly, this wasn't an isolated incident. Gynecological pain is often treated with less painkilling medicines than would perhaps be useful (anyone who's suffered with adenomyosis and/or endometriosis might testify to this!), with the sad perception amongst some physicians that narcotics = inevitable addiction, even when patients as well as advocates know this isn't generally true (do they miss the literature that tells us less than 1% of pain patients will become addicted to narcotics? Are they mistaking increased tolerance for addiction?)

To Legalizer:

Cannabis also masks pain in a similar manner to narcotics; whilst it's not physically addictive, it certainly can become psychologically "addictive". Both morphine and cannabis can be effective in masking certain types of pain, but again, there are some cases where neither will be as effective as desired (morphine does have the "advantage" of sedation - then again, so does cannabis if enough is used...).

Alas, cannabis doesn't cure pain either.

Originally posted by Tinkleflower
We've both worked in a clinical setting (you as a nurse, me largely as a clinical researcher and/or patient advocate); have you noticed any differences between how men and women may be treated differently for pain?

Not really as all of my time have been in dedicated pediatric hospitals that had an actualy pain service. Unlike alot of specialty services, bedside nurses could initiate a consult 24/7, there was always a doc on to assist. I never percieved any difference in gender and dose/drug/method used. However that was in a peds setting. Adult care may be differnent in this regard.

Thanks for the quick response, Fred

My experience has always been with adult patients; some were also enrolled in specialised "pain clinics", and it was generally only there that pain was adequately addressed and treated. In the general hospital/physician setting, sad to say "most" pain patients felt their needs weren't being met in terms of pain management. I still receive patient accounts of a perceived bias against gynecological pain in particular; this phenomenon does perhaps deserve more research (alas, I have neither the funds nor the time available to carry out an independent study).

I do hope the tide will turn very soon; this truly is an unnecessary tragedy. We need more facilities where pain is recognised and treated adequately.

They say no pain no gain.

If you want to feel the luxury of life you have to go through pain to know it

Originally posted by Boatphone
There is this thing called morphine, its cures pain and is real.

really. i take 120 milligrams of avinza(morphine sulphate) plus 1200 micrograms of fentanyl every day and i still have pain.

don't get me wrong, the morphine does help it but i would like to be pain free. i have not had a single day pain free since 1998 and it's horrible.
doctors, narcotics, therapy, surgeries, still pain.

ah to be rid of pain would be great. i have lived now for eight months prety much in constant pain and i am sick of it. canibus works but it's illigal for most to use. (not to mention that my insurance don't pay for it for some add reason :lol i do have codene but try not to use it to much as i don't wan't to become addiocted to it.

i agree that pain does have a very valid purpose, but hey i already know i've screwed up my back thanks.

pot never really did anything for me...as far as pain having a purpose i don't even know what to say to that one. i/we/people shouldn't have to live in pain all day. even with heavy duty narcs it still hurts.
this thread was more of a rant than anything thats why i edited my first post and deleted what i had said.

hypnosis can cure pain all you have to do is alter your thinking or somehting like that.

Originally posted by healthyhitter
hypnosis can cure pain all you have to do is alter your thinking or somehting like that.

Not everyone can be easily hypnotized, or hynotized at all.

And there have been very few documented studies of cancer pain being "cured" by hynpnosis; at best, hypnosis would "control" pain, but not cure.

And it's a lot easier said than done.

Do you have anything to back this up?